Internal-combustion motor



May 19, 1925.

H. A. NORDWICK ET AL INTERNAL COMBUSTION MOTOR 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 19

, INVENTORS Henr yAJVwr-dwick and .Ptzul cLMaz-c'h eat;

ATTORNEY Wwm;

May 19,1925;

H. A. NORDWICK ET- AL INTERNAL COMBUSTION MOTOR 2 She ets-Shet 2 Filed Oct 19, 1925 INZENTORS Henry A.Nardviclc d d v Pa l cLMarqfielb', B), Q ATTORNEY Patented May 19, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY A. NORDWICK AND PAUL J'.. MARCHETTI, OF STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION MOTOR.

Application filed October 19, 1923. Serial No. 669,461.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HENRY A. NdRDwIoK and PAUL J. MARGHETTI, citizens of the United States, residing at Stockton, county of San Joaquin, State of California, have inventedcertain newand useful Improvements in Internal-Combustion Motors; and we do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this application.

This invention relates to improvements in gas engines of that general type which has a plurality of cylinders grouped radially about the drive shaft; the principal object of our invention being to provide an engine of this character so constructed that the power impulses of the different cylinders overlap and are distributed evenly and continuously to the shaft, so that there is no point in a complete revolution of the shaft when the latter is not under power, and the engine will be practically vibrationless and will deliver great power for its size and weight.

Another object is to construct the engine in such a manner that the onl strain on the drive shaft is the natura revolving torque, the blows or impulses of the piston or connecting rods not being transmitted direct to said shaft, so that there is no bending strain ap lied to the latter. struction ena les a light shaftwith only two bearings being used, and insures that such bearings, if once properly fitted, will wear without requiring take-up or running out of true, for a very. long time.

A further object is to provide an engine so constructed that a very shallow pan, below the shaft, may be used, thus making our engine very suitable for marine use, Where space below the shaft is usually cramped.

The engine is also constructed so that the drive shaft is indirectly driven from the pistons, and at a slower relative speed, so that without further gearing down such as is frequently resorted to, our engine is admirably adapted for airplane and similar service.

A still further object is to construct the engine so that all the parts, with the exception of the case, are'smalland of simple for- This conmation, and independent of each other, so}? that any one of the same may be easily withdrawn and replaced with a minimum of expense.

These objects we accomplish by means of, a

such structure and relative arrangement of which is a gear 2. This shaft, on opposite.

sides of said gear, is journaled in bearings 3 formed on a casing 4, the endwalls of wh1ch are preferably parallel to the gear while its surface between said walls and above the shaft is concentric therewith, said casing preferably terminating in a horizontal plane in alinement with said shaft. A pan 4, which need be no greater in diameter than sufficient to clear the gear, is secured to the casing and encloses the lower 4 half of the gear.

Meshing withthe gear 2 are pinions 5, half the size of the gear, and spacedeach from the other a distance of 45. .Thesepinions are fixed on individual shafts 6 journaled in bearings 7 formed with the casing, each shaft having opposed crank arms 8 beyond the bearings.

Connecting rods 9 extend from the cranks to pistons 10 slidable in cylinders 11 mounted on the casing, there being two parallel sets of the cylinders, four in each set, those of each set being in radial alinement with lines drawn from the shaft 1 through the shafts 6.

Each cylinder (the engine being of the four-cycle type) has the usual intake and exhaust valve mechanisms, operated from stems 12 and 13 respectively. These stems are actuated by ta pets 14 and 15, having rollers 16 attheir lbwer ends facing in opposite directions and riding on discs 17 mounted on the shaftl on both sides of the near. Each disc has peripheral and transversely spaced cams 18 and 19 to engage and are similarly disposed relative to each other.

When assembling the engine, each crankshaft is arranged so as to be 90 ahead of the one ahead, considering the shaft 1 as turning to the right in Figs. 1 and 2, as is preferable. It is of course understood that suitable ignition means, to create sparks at the plugs 20', is provided and arranged to operate in suitably timed relation with the movements of the pistons and the opening and closing of the valves.

In operation, with the arrangement of parts shown and described above, each set of four cylinders in the same transverse plane will fire, etc., one after the other, from left to right, or in the direction of rotation of the shaft -1, with a rotation of of the ear 2 between adjacent cylinders, since this is the arcuate spacing of said cylinders relative to the shaft.

With each movement of 15 of the gear, the pinions will move through a 90 arc, since'the gear is double the size of the pinions, and the pistons will therefore travel halfa stroke. It will therefore be seen that as'soon as any piston, on its firing stroke, has travelled half the length of such stroke,

, the next cylinder will be fired, so that the haust, intake an power impulses overlap, and there will never be any dead spots between said power impulses.

After a 45 movement of gear 2 has taken place following the firing of the cylinder farthest to the right, the left-end cylinder 0 the other set of four cylinders is fired,

the others then following in the same order This of course as described for the first set. is both because the connecting rods, etc., of the two sets of cylinders are arranged in diametrally opposed relation to each other, and because the'valve operating cams, etc., are oppositely disposed on the discs 17.

A continuous flow, of power from all eight cylinders is thus had, each cylinder firing once for each revolution of the drive shaft. Between the firing impulses of each cylinder, the remainin cycles of operation-ex.-

d compression-of course take place automatically with the rotation of the shaft 1, since the speed of the drive Shaft relative to the crank shafts is the same as that commonly employed between the cam and drive shafts of four cycle motors, so that shaft 1, with the cams operatively connected thereto, functions to operate the valves of each cylinder in the same manner as the ordinary cam shaft.

The above represents what we believe to be the most practical embodiment of the enine, taking all points into consideration,

ut it will be evident that a continuous flow of power may also be obtained with the use of four c linders only, in two ways:

First, y retaining the 2 to 1 gear ratio and making use of. the two-cycle principle of operation, each cylinder thus firing twice for each revolution of the drive shaft, and second, by employing the four cycle principle'but increasing the gear ratio to 4 to 1, each cylinder thus also firing twice with each revolution of the drive shaft.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that we have produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the presentand preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: i

1. A gas engine comprising a casing, a shaft rojecting therethrough, cylinders mounte on the casing and extending in parallel alinement' to the shaft, a member mounted on the shaft in a plane between member to cause rotation of the shaft with the reciprocation of the pistons, valves for the cylinders, located in the sides thereof farthest from the connecting means, tappets for the valves disposed in the casing and extending toward the shaft, cylindrical members with the outer faces of which the ta pets engage and havin connection with t e shaft ad acent the rst named member thereon, and bearings for the shaft projecting inwardly from the casing toward the inner ends of the cylindrical members.

2. A four cycle gas engine comprising a drive shaft, a gear thereon, four pinions half the size of'the gear meshing therewith, whereby each pinion will have two complete revolutions for each revolution of the shaft and the latter may be used-as a valve-operating cam-shaft a crankshaft for each pinion having cran s 180 apart, the cranks of each shaft being set 90 apart relative to the cranks of adjacent shafts a pair of. cylind'ers for each crank shaft, two transverse rows of four cylinders each being thus provided; pistons in the cylinders operatively connected to the corresponding cranks, valves for the cylinders, operating means therefor, and cam means mounted with the drive shaft for actuating said operating means of each cylinder in rotation and once for each revolution of the shaft, the pinions ton of one row overlaps the corresponding being spaced 415 apart about the gear stroke of the opposite end piston of the whereby to enable power impulses to be imother row. 1 parted to all the pistons of one row in suc- In testimony whereof We afiix our signa- 5 oessive and overlapping order and then to tures. the pistons of the other row in correspond- PAUL J. MARGHETTI.

ing order and so that a stroke of an end pis- HENRY A. NORDWICK. 

